“A week had passed since Jeck’s death in the ironworks, but it had shut down afterward. ‘To help the investigation,’ they said, and that was true enough, but also because nobody wanted to spend any time there. I can’t say I was all that eager myself, honestly.

“It was well after 11 by the time I got there. The gate to the fence was locked, and nobody was in a rush to open it. I finally ended up entering alone. Not so much out of bravery, you understand; I was too disturbed by the scene in Colum’s home to let things lie. It felt too unnatural, too unexplained, and it was eating at my mind.

“They tried to talk me out of entering, and I only resisted their attempts by the barest of threads. The foreman opened the gate for me and I just about turned back. The grounds felt … wrong. The moon was near full that night, but the light didn’t enter that place.

“The air felt heavy, though maybe that was just me. And it was quiet, oh so quiet. Every step I took toward the building sounded impossibly loud.